NCHATS

Words Matter: How Language Can Support Suicide Prevention

nchatsadmin — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 14:57:11 +0000

Words Matter: How Language Can Support Suicide Prevention

The words we choose matter—especially when talking about suicide and mental health. Research shows that language can shape attitudes, influence stigma, and impact whether people feel safe seeking help. When harmful or judgmental language is used, it can intensify feelings of shame or isolation for people who are already struggling.

The National Center for Health and Justice Integration for Suicide Prevention (NCHATS) has developed a Suicide Prevention Language Toolkit that provides guidance on respectful, person-first language—putting people before labels. This approach recognizes that a person’s identity is far broader than a moment of crisis or a diagnosis.

By choosing words that are respectful, accurate, and compassionate, we can help foster environments where people feel seen, heard, and supported. When stigma is reduced and conversations are safer, individuals may be more likely to seek help and connect with the support they need.

Download Language Guide Download Infographic

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A Cold Call That Changed Lives: How a Unique Partnership Reduced Suicides

nchatsadmin — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 15:51:03 +0000

A Cold Call That Changed Lives: How a Unique Partnership Reduced Suicides

When Jennifer Johnson picked up the phone more than a decade ago, she had not yet moved to Flint, unpacked a box or even accepted a job offer from Michigan State University. What she did have was a research question combined with a willingness to call the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office to see if they could work together.

Johnson, then a professor at Brown University, had spent years studying how to help mental health among people involved in the justice system. She knew local jails were one of the largest and most overlooked points of contact for people at high risk of suicide. What she needed was a partner willing to open the doors.

At the time, Chris Swanson was undersheriff, second in command at the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office. Johnson called to ask whether he would be interested in collaborating on a study and, almost as an aside, whether he knew where she might live if she moved to Flint.

“The answer was yes,” Swanson said. “And after that conversation, she accepted Michigan State University’s offer and moved here.”

That call became the foundation of a partnership among the Michigan State University Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health, the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office, and Genesee Health System that has now produced nationally significant findings: a brief, jail-based intervention that cut suicide attempts by 55% in the year after people were released from jail.

The randomized clinical trial, co-led by Johnson and Lauren Weinstock of Brown University, was published in JAMA Network Open, one of the nation’s top medical journals.

For Swanson, the stakes were personal.

“I remember my first violent death as an intern at Mott Community College,” he said. “It was a suicide. I was never the same after I saw it.”

(Left to right) Marie Jones, Karena Mitchell, Dr. Jennifer Johnson, Sheriff Chris Swanson, and Dan Russell discussed a partnership for suicide interventions during a townhall on February 9.

Support for People in Crisis

Each year, about 8 million people pass through local jails in the United States. Most are there briefly as only about 1 in 17 go to prison. The rest return to their communities, often within days.

What many people do not realize, Johnson said, is how closely jail involvement and suicide risk are connected.

“One in five of all adult suicides in this country involves someone who spent at least one night in jail in the year before they died,” said Johnson, the Charles Stewart Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health at Michigan State University and founding chair of the MSU College of Human Medicine’s Department of Public Health. “People who end up in jails tend to already be experiencing crises in their lives.”

Most people in the study were not suicidal because they were incarcerated. Most had made suicide attempts before entering jail, including in the weeks and days before being arrested. .

“People don’t usually end up in jail when everything in their life is going great,” Johnson said. “They’re often already in crisis.”

That crisis can take many forms, including job loss, substance use, relationship breakdowns, or other trauma, and sometimes leads people to behaviors that are both illegal and life-threatening, such as reckless driving or overdose. Law enforcement officers may not recognize those actions as suicide attempts, Johnson said, but they are often part of the same downward spiral.

The study enrolled 800 people in Genesee County and Rhode Island who had recently attempted suicide or reported serious suicidal thoughts. Participants were randomly assigned either to receive usual care or a brief intervention known as the Safety Planning Intervention.

Clinicians from Genesee Health System delivered the intervention inside the jail before release and followed up afterward.

At its core, the intervention helps people create a written, step-by-step plan for moments of crisis. The plan includes identifying triggers, warning signs, coping strategies, people to contact, and professional resources.

“It’s like writing the battle plan before you’re in the battle,” Swanson said.

The results were striking. Participants who received the intervention had 55% fewer suicide attempts in the year after their release compared with those who did not.

“This was the first randomized trial of suicide prevention in any justice setting,” Johnson said. “And it worked — even better than some people expected.”

Collaboration Inside and Outside the Jail

Delivering mental health interventions inside a jail is never simple, said Dan Russell, CEO of Genesee Health System. The project required careful coordination, additional staff time, and close adherence to jail protocols.

“Our role was providing the clinical therapists who actually did the interventions,” Russell said. “There were a lot of moving pieces, and our staff took this on in addition to their regular work.”

For Russell, the collaboration itself was one of the study’s most important lessons.

“Getting an academic institution, a community mental health provider, and a law enforcement agency to work together on anything is a major accomplishment,” he said. “The fact that we worked so well together speaks to why partnerships like this matter.”

Russell said Genesee Health System believed the intervention would help, but even he was surprised by the magnitude of the results.

“We anticipated positive outcomes because we believe in treatment,” he said. “But I don’t think we were expecting them to be as positive as they were. It shows the treatment works and should be a blueprint going forward.”

Johnson said the rigor of the study, including a yearlong follow-up and extensive safety protocols, was key to its acceptance by JAMA Network Open.

“That level of publication means the research underwent intense scrutiny by experts across the country,” she said. “It means the evidence is solid.”

If the approach were implemented nationwide, Johnson estimates it could save thousands of lives each year.

“About 50,000 people die by suicide annually in the U.S.,” she said. “If one-fifth of them passed through jail and we cut attempts by 55%, that’s roughly 5,500 lives saved every year.”

For Swanson, the numbers reinforce what he has seen firsthand.

“This is a story of redemption and optimism,” he said. “We gave people hope. We gave them a pathway.”

The partners shared their findings with the community during a public town hall on February 9 at the MSU Department of Public Health. Representatives from MSU, the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office, and Genesee Health System participated and Karena Mitchell, who received the intervention, shared her story. Johnson hopes the conversation encourages other communities to see jails not just as places of detention, but as opportunities for prevention.

“Suicide is often an impulsive but permanent decision,” she said. “Small, human interventions at the right moment can make a life-or-death difference.”

The post A Cold Call That Changed Lives: How a Unique Partnership Reduced Suicides appeared first on NCHATS.

NCHATS Co-Director Brian Ahmedani Named to TIME List of Influential Leaders in Health

nchatsadmin — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 18:51:28 +0000

NCHATS Co-Director Brian Ahmedani Named to TIME List of Influential Leaders in Health

TIME named Brian Ahmedani to the 2026 TIME100 Health List of the World’s Most Influential Leaders in Health. Ahmedani is recognized in the Innovators category for his work advancing Henry Ford Health’s Zero Suicide model, proven to reduce suicide rates by 25%. TIME wrote:

Nearly three decades ago, Brian Ahmedani was part of the Henry Ford Health team that developed the Zero Suicide model for health care providers: a novel framework built on the idea that suicide is preventable when health systems take responsibility for identifying risk and providing consistent, evidence-based care. That means that, for example, all patients are routinely screened for suicide risk, and clinicians and staff are trained to recognize and have direct conversations about it. In 2025, a major study published in JAMA Network Open showed that the model—which has been adopted throughout the U.S. and in more than 30 countries—decreased suicide attempts from as much as 11.3 to 0.3 per 100,000 people in participating health centers. “We pursue zero because we don’t accept that we shouldn’t try to prevent every single suicide,” Ahmedani says. “We’re not going to stop until we do.”

In 2025, Ahmedani published new research demonstrating the model’s effectiveness. In the news release about that research, Ahmedani said, “‘Zero Suicide’ may seem like an impossible goal, but we believe we should strive every day to try to prevent suicide among our patients. This is the best evidence yet that we have the tools to recognize those in distress, intervene, and help them change course.”

The 2026 TIME100 Health spotlights 100 influential leaders shaping global health, noting that the people selected “are advancing care, shaping policy, and driving innovations that transform lives.” The full list is available online and it will appear in the February 23 print issue of the magazine.

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Sheriff Chris Swanson and Dr. Jennifer Johnson Discuss Suicide Prevention on ‘The Working Class’ Podcast

nchatsadmin — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 13:48:14 +0000

Sheriff Chris Swanson and Dr. Jennifer Johnson Discuss Suicide Prevention on ‘The Working Class’ Podcast

A brief intervention offered to people detained in jail significantly cut the risk of suicidal behavior after their release, researchers at Michigan State University and Brown University report.

The study, conducted at the Genesee County Jail in Flint and a Rhode Island correctional facility, found that a single Safety Planning Intervention combined with follow-up support calls reduced suicide attempts by more than half compared with standard care in the year after release.

The federally funded trial, part of the Suicide Prevention for at-Risk Individuals in Transition (SPIRIT) project, tracked roughly 800 people and identified the first evidence-based suicide prevention approach for this high-risk group.

Dr. Jennifer Johnson, the Charles Stewart Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health at MSU and founding chair of the MSU College of Human Medicine’s Department of Public Health, called the findings “a profound impact” for people leaving jail at a time when they are especially vulnerable.

Johnson and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson recently discussed the research and their collaborative partnership on The Working Class Podcast. The conversation highlights how public health and local law enforcement can work together to strengthen community health and safety.

The post Sheriff Chris Swanson and Dr. Jennifer Johnson Discuss Suicide Prevention on ‘The Working Class’ Podcast appeared first on NCHATS.

Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Criminal Legal Professionals

nchatsadmin — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 14:11:50 +0000

Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Criminal Legal Professionals

Resources for Criminal Legal Professionals

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — Call or text 988 for immediate support.

CopLine (800-267-5463) — Confidential peer support line staffed by retired law enforcement officers.

The Counseling Team International (800-222-9691) — Wellness services for public safety professionals.

First Responder Wellness (888-443-4898) — Specialized treatment and support programs.

NDAA Well-Being Committee & Cordico App — Free wellness app and resources for prosecutors.

Law enforcement, first responders, attorneys, and criminal justice professionals spend their careers confronting trauma, whether in courtrooms, interrogation rooms, or on the front lines of law enforcement. That work, while essential, can carry a steep personal cost.

A recent webinar hosted by the National Center for Health and Justice Integration for Suicide Prevention (NCHATS) and the Addiction Policy Forum (APF) brought prosecutors, law enforcement leaders, and researchers together to talk about best practices for wellness, mental health, and suicide prevention in the profession.

“After years of doing exclusively child abuse and sexual assault cases, I realized I was suffering from secondary trauma,” said Mary Ashley, deputy district attorney in San Bernardino County, Calif. “We are not wired to see violence repeatedly. If we don’t address it, that cost of caring becomes burnout and compassion fatigue.”

Ashley, who also serves as vice chair of the National District Attorneys Association’s Well-Being Committee, said the profession has long prided itself on toughness. That culture often discouraged people from asking for help, fearing it would be seen as weakness. She noted that has begun to change.

The pressures are clear. A 2024 survey of prosecutors by the National District Attorneys Association found that while 93% of respondents said they enjoyed their jobs, 57% had seriously considered leaving. The No. 2 reason cited—behind pay—was concern for their own well-being.

Domingo Herraiz, director of programs at the International Association of Chiefs of Police, said law enforcement faces many of the same challenges. The organization has launched officer resilience training, peer support initiatives, and family wellness programs to help break down stigma and normalize seeking help.

“It really comes down to self-perception and stigma,” Herraiz said. “If we don’t break down the stigma of getting help, we’re going to miss the mark. Officers and prosecutors alike need to know it’s OK to seek support.”

Jennifer Johnson, PhD, Chair of the Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health at Michigan State University, and co-director of NCHATS, said the issue extends across criminal and legal systems. Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death nationwide and one in five people who die by suicide have spent a night in jail in the previous year. But the risk isn’t only for those in custody.

“Our partners have told us again and again that they are worried about taking care of their own,” Johnson said. “A healthy officer is much more likely to be able to respond better to someone with a mental health crisis. That’s why wellness for criminal justice professionals is so critical.”

The webinar emphasized that solutions must be both cultural and practical. Ashley highlighted creative approaches being tried in prosecutors’ offices, from rotating difficult assignments to creating “puzzle rooms” and peer support teams. San Diego’s “Be Well to Serve Well” program, for example, gives attorneys paid time to volunteer in the community as a form of stress relief and renewal.

Herraiz noted that his organization frames its work around prevention, intervention, and “postvention,” which means building resilience early, supporting staff after traumatic events, and helping officers grow after tragedy. The approach, he said, borrows lessons from the military and adapts them to policing.

Technology, changing generational attitudes and leadership commitment have also made a difference. Younger recruits, Herraiz said, are more open about mental health, nutrition, and sleep than previous generations. Apps and wearable devices can track stress, while confidential hotlines and wellness platforms are increasingly available. Other leading approaches include trained peer counselors and therapy animals.

Still, challenges remain. Fear of loss of access to firearms and perceived stigma tied to fitness-for-duty evaluations continue to be barriers to transparency for officers in crisis. Family strain is another key factor, with high divorce rates and difficulties talking about traumatic experiences at home. That’s why Herraiz emphasized the importance of including spouses and children in wellness programming.

Throughout the webinar, panelists pointed back to one overarching theme: cultural change is essential and must be modeled by agency leaders. Just as officers are trained in tactics and prosecutors in trial law, they argued, wellness training must become part of professional competence.

The conversation, organizers said, is part of a growing movement. Both NCHATS and the Addiction Policy Forum plan to continue bringing together leaders across justice and health systems to share resources and strategies.

“Smashing the stigma costs nothing,” Ashley said. “When we create an atmosphere that encourages people to take care of themselves and their families, we end up with prosecutors and officers who are better reasoned, more ethical and better able to serve their communities.”

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Brief Jail-Based Intervention Cuts Community Suicide Risk in Half, Michigan State and Brown Study Finds

nchatsadmin — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 21:30:45 +0000

Brief Jail-Based Intervention Cuts Community Suicide Risk in Half, Michigan State and Brown Study Finds

A suicide prevention program tested by researchers from Michigan State University and Brown University cut suicide attempts by more than half among people recently released from pretrial jail detention, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open. This study identified the first evidence-based suicide prevention approach in this population.

The federally funded trial, “Suicide Prevention for at-Risk Individuals in Transition (SPIRIT),” evaluated a Safety Planning Intervention for people detained in jail. The program combined an in-jail safety planning session with follow-up phone calls after release to help individuals stay connected, navigate life stressors, and access care.

“Too often, people leaving jail fall through the cracks at one of the most vulnerable points in their lives,” said Jennifer Johnson, the Charles Stewart Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health at Michigan State University and founding chair of the MSU College of Human Medicine’s Department of Public Health. “This study shows that even a brief intervention can have a profound impact. Our study showed that the Safety Planning Intervention reduced suicide attempts by more than half in the year after release from pretrial jail detention. This matters because 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. who die by suicide in the community have spent a night in jail in the past year. We identified the first effective approach to prevent these suicides.”

The study followed 800 at-risk individuals across two jail sites, the Genesee County Jail in Michigan and the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, and tracked outcomes for a year after release. Participants who received the intervention showed a 55% reduction in suicide attempts and a 42% decrease in overall suicide-related events, compared with those receiving standard post-release care.

The study was co-led by Lauren Weinstock, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University, with collaborators the late psychologist Barbara Stanley from Columbia University and Greg Brown at the University of Pennsylvania, who had developed an intervention for suicide prevention that had been used in hospital emergency departments.

“People we recruited were under a tremendous amount of stress and strain,” Weinstock said. “They had high rates of prior suicide attempts, substance use and trauma exposure, with people sharing stories of very difficult life circumstances. This was a population at an extremely high risk for suicide, so it was informative to see how effective this intervention could be with this group.”

In fact, nearly all the participants were suicidal in the month prior to arrest. Some were arrested because of their suicide attempt. Half had made their first suicide attempt by age 13. The team used the fact of the arrest to identify individuals at very high risk for suicide in the community and to intervene.

The team is now evaluating cost-effectiveness and developing implementation approaches to help correctional and community mental health systems adopt the approach on a wider scale, including through their National Center for Health and Justice Integration for Suicide Prevention (NCHATS).

NCHATS is an innovative, practice-focused suicide prevention research center funded by a $15 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health that recognizes that contact with police, emergency services, courts, or jails can be a marker for suicide risk and demonstrates ways to connect people to suicide prevention services at scale. The center brings together a large, multi-institution team — dozens of investigators across many institutions (including Michigan State University, Brown University and Henry Ford Health) and national organizations representing jails, police, crisis services, courts, and health systems —to expand public-health approaches to suicide prevention among people in the community who have had contact with criminal and legal systems.

The SPIRIT trial was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (U01MH106660), with additional support from the National Institutes of Health Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Suicide Prevention Research and the National Institute of Justice to Michigan State University.

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Poverty After Prison Hurts Thinking and Decision-Making, Study Finds

nchatsadmin — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 16:56:11 +0000

Poverty After Prison Hurts Thinking and Decision-Making, Study Finds

Dr. Jennifer Johnson

A new study led by a Michigan State University researcher shows that poverty experienced by women after leaving prison not only limits their choices, but also temporarily reduces their ability to think clearly and solve problems.

The research, published in Scientific Reports, found that scarcity of resources such as housing, food, transportation, and childcare can lower IQ, weaken self-control, and increase impulsive behavior. These cognitive effects, in turn, raise the risks of substance use, poor mental health, and missed treatment during the critical weeks after release.

“When women do poorly after prison release, society and even service providers often solely blame the woman,” said Jennifer Johnson, founding chair of the Charles Stewart Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health at the MSU College of Human Medicine and lead author of the study. “But our findings show that extreme poverty itself impairs thinking and decision-making. These problems are not fixed traits. They can be changed by policy and community support.”

A vulnerable time

The study followed 92 women with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders during and after incarceration. Participants completed tests of fluid intelligence, attention, persistence, and impulsivity at multiple points before and after release.

Results showed that six of seven cognitive measures worsened significantly after women left prison. Women who experienced greater poverty and unmet needs after release had sharper drops in mental functioning, more cravings for drugs or alcohol, and poorer mental health.

“Trying to secure housing, find work, reunite with children, and meet parole or treatment requirements all while living in poverty consumes mental energy,” Johnson said. “It leaves women with fewer cognitive resources to resist cravings or make careful decisions.”

Implications for policy and services

The findings challenge the idea that relapse or setbacks after prison release are simply due to personal failings. Instead, they point to scarcity as a direct factor that undermines recovery and reintegration.

According to Johnson, health and social programs that are complex, rigid, or punitive may unintentionally make matters worse by overwhelming people already struggling with reduced cognitive capacity. She said services should be designed to be easier to find, simpler to access, simpler to navigate, and more forgiving of small mistakes.

“Society has more control than we realize,” Johnson said. “If we reduce poverty and make systems easier to navigate, we can improve both mental health and public safety.”

Connecting research to practice

Johnson also serves as MSU’s principal investigator for the National Center for Health and Justice Integration for Suicide Prevention (NCHATS). NCHATS is an innovative, practice-focused suicide prevention research center funded by a $15 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health that recognizes that contact with police, courts, or jails can be a marker for suicide risk and demonstrates ways to connect people to suicide prevention services at scale. Its goal is to use build information bridges between health care organizations and criminal legal systems so that people at risk for suicide can be identified and connected to effective care; the center also evaluates the clinical and cost-effectiveness of suicide prevention practices in these settings. NCHATS

The center brings together a large, multi-institution team — dozens of investigators across many partner institutions (including Michigan State University, Brown University and Henry Ford Health) — and works directly with jails, police, courts and health systems to integrate and expand public-health approaches to suicide prevention among people who have contact with the criminal legal system.

“An NCHATS study found that 1 in 5 U.S. adults who die by suicide has spent at least one night in jail in the past year,” Johnson said. “Both distress and impulsivity are risk factors for suicide, and this new study shows that conditions at prison release increase both distress and impulsivity. By uncovering how poverty shapes thinking and behavior, we can help design better policies and programs that give people a real chance at success after incarceration.”

Making broader change

Findings suggest that intelligence, impulsivity, and other traits once thought to be fixed can be shaped by context and are linked to important real-world health outcomes. That means they are more open to remedies such as stable housing, accessible health care, transportation support, and policies that ease rather than complicate re-entry.

“Poverty doesn’t just take away options, it narrows people’s ability to make decisions, including when their health is at risk,” Johnson said. “If we want people leaving prison to succeed, we have to reduce scarcity and give them the cognitive space to make good decisions.”

The post Poverty After Prison Hurts Thinking and Decision-Making, Study Finds appeared first on NCHATS.

Innovative Court Program Connects Families to Mental Health and Legal Support

nchatsadmin — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 13:16:04 +0000

Innovative Court Program Connects Families to Mental Health and Legal Support

Brittany Rudd

The Family Law Navigation Model, a pilot project developed by a Michigan State University researcher, provides early intervention in family legal issues to keep them from becoming more complicated.

Led by Brittany Rudd, PhD, an assistant professor in the Michigan State University Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health in the College of Human Medicine, the program is intended to improve the outcomes from family transitions, which can often put families at greater risk of entering the criminal, juvenile, or child welfare systems.

Complex issues like divorce, child support, parenting time, and other civil legal issues are stressful for families, and can put families involved at greater risk of entering the criminal, juvenile, or child welfare systems down the road due to the instability associated with family transitions.

“Divorce, parental separation, and intimate partner violence increase the risk of mental health problems and suicide for children and parents as well as potential legal conflicts within the family,” Rudd said. “Potential problems in the family system could lead to things like a criminal offense because of family disagreements that can arise in civil legal matters like divorce or custody proceedings.”

Family Law Navigation Model

Providing early interventions to those families is the basis for the Family Law Navigation Model, a pilot project led by Rudd for the National Center for Health and Justice Integration for Suicide Prevention (NCHATS). NCHATS is a suicide prevention research center funded by a $15 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health focused on identifying individuals at risk for suicide and connecting them to care and co-led by researchers from Michigan State University, Brown University, and Henry Ford Health.

Rudd’s Family Law Navigation Model is one of four current NCHATS pilot projects. The project recognizes family court as a critical intervention point. “Many families, especially low-income ones, face difficulties navigating the system without legal representation, as there is no right to counsel in civil cases,” Rudd said.

Rudd’s background is as a child psychologist, and she’s always been interested in how to support children and parents. She was an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law at the University of Illinois Chicago when she started the project and has now continued that research and work at Michigan State.

“In my clinical work, I saw a lot of families who had issues navigating the legal system,” she said. “Parents were divorcing, and kids were having a hard time, so I would see a lot of family stress. It was through that work and early graduate training that I began thinking about how we might embed parenting interventions that could help provide support for these issues in courts. I became really interested in parenting interventions and how they can be helpful for parents, specifically during transitions. I wanted to figure out how to get these programs outside of just clinics and into the civil system. It felt like a natural opportunity and place to embed services and help more families.”

NCHATS includes a network of more than 36 investigators, 18 universities and health systems, and organizations representing judges, attorneys, and jails. Dr. Jennifer Johnson, Chief Translation Officer in the Office of Health Sciences at Michigan State University; Chair of the Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health, and co-director of NCHATS, says that network is perfectly equipped to promote real-world change.

“We’ve pulled together a network of partners and people who don’t usually talk to each other,” Johnson said. “The goal is for everyone to work together to stabilize families and prevent suicide.”

A Collaborative Pilot in Indiana

In collaboration with the Indiana Superior Court and multiple counties, this project aims to help families access legal resources while connecting them to mental health and social services, preventing deeper system involvement. The pilot project, locally called the Families Matter Triage Program, was launched to prove the concept and allow for the collection of data on parent and child outcomes. There is also a Facebook page for the Indiana version of the pilot.

Rudd has worked closely with Judge Maria D. Granger in Floyd County on developing the model.

“Judge Granger has really been a pioneer and early adopter of this model,” Rudd said. “I’m excited, because in our work with the Indiana Supreme Court, we’ve been presenting the preliminary pilot work of this service in this one county and now there’s at least three more counties saying, ‘finish the manual finish the intervention because we want this too.’”

A Foundation for Expansion

The goal is to use this pilot data to launch a comprehensive evaluation of the model’s effectiveness on families and court processes. Ultimately, the Indiana Superior Court’s support plays a crucial role in building the foundation for future research and the potential expansion of this model.

“This project is helping rethink how we serve families in crisis,” Granger said. “By connecting parents to legal guidance and behavioral health services early in the process, we’re reducing confusion, improving outcomes for children, and strengthening public trust in the courts.”

Aiming to improve at connecting resources to people during stressful times or transitions in life is a key feature of this project.

“I think about hopelessness being a key factor in suicidality,” Rudd said. “And sometimes, hopelessness is shaped by things like poverty, lack of education, unsafe housing, or limited access to healthcare, and so part of my thinking and hope with this project is that by catching people during stressful transitions, getting them connected to care, getting them mental health resources, targeting social determinants of health, we will promote mental health overall, and prevent suicide.”

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NCHATS Researcher Discusses Reducing Suicide Risk in Prison System on NPR

nchatsadmin — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 13:11:28 +0000

NCHATS Researcher Discusses Reducing Suicide Risk in Prison System on NPR

In a recent Here & Now / WBUR segment examining suicide in U.S. jails, Dr. Lauren Weinstock, Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Brown University, emphasizes how incarceration amplifies preexisting vulnerabilities among people entering detention. She notes that many individuals already carry risk factors such as mental health struggles or substance use, and the stressful, uncertain conditions of the booking process can further elevate suicide risk.

“ What we know about people who often find themselves in jails and prisons is that they typically have preexisting risk factors for suicide,” Weinstock said. “When you combine those with the stressful conditions of jail or prison detention, that can often exacerbate underlying risk.”

In her view, jails are often under-resourced and lack access to detainees’ health histories, making it difficult for staff to anticipate and prevent crises. She urges more staffing, clearer institutional policies, and environmental modifications (e.g. reducing ligature risk, rethinking cell design) to help reduce harm. Weinstock also underscores a broader pattern: approximately 20 % of U.S. suicide decedents had spent at least one night in jail in the year before their death, indicating that interventions must bridge both jail and community settings.

As a co–principal investigator of NCHATS (National Center for Health and Justice Integration for Suicide Prevention), Weinstock contributes to the center’s mission of connecting criminal legal systems and health systems to prevent suicide. NCHATS, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, works to establish “information bridges” between justice settings and healthcare, to identify individuals who face elevated suicide risk in justice contact, and to test pragmatic, cost-effective suicide prevention strategies in these contexts. The consortium spans 36 investigators across 18 institutions and partnerships, aiming to integrate jails, health systems, police, and corrections agencies in a public health approach to suicide prevention.

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Webinar Recording: Enhancing Wellness for Criminal Justice Professionals – Innovative Programs for Law Enforcement Officers and Prosecutors

nchatsadmin — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 15:03:25 +0000

Enhancing Wellness for Criminal Justice Professionals: Innovative Programs for Law Enforcement Officers and Prosecutors

Law enforcement officers and prosecutors serve on the front lines of public safety and often operate in high-pressure and high-risk environments. On a regular basis, police officers are called to scenes involving emotionally charged incidents and life-threatening situations. Similarly, prosecutors are exposed to graphic evidence and high caseloads, and are charged with life-altering decision-making. Sustained exposure to trauma, extreme stress, and high workloads in the course of their duties can take a toll on their mental and physical health. Left unaddressed, the result can increase the risk of burnout, substance use, depression, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

This webinar discusses how justice agencies can meaningfully promote wellness within their organizations by implementing proactive, evidence-informed practices and programs. Participants will hear from subject matter experts and representatives from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) who will spotlight innovative programs, share key resources, model practices, and lessons learned from wellness efforts taking place in the field.

Speakers:

Mary Ashley, Deputy District Attorney, San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office; Prosecutor Wellbeing Committee Vice-Chair, NDAA
Domingo Herraiz, Director of Programs, International Association of Chiefs of Police
Jennifer E. Johnson, PhD, C. S. Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health, Michigan State University

See the webinar slides here.

This webinar is sponsored by The National Center for Health and Justice Integration for Suicide Prevention (NCHATS), an initiative funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and in partnership with the Addiction Policy Forum.

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